How to Email Like a Pro and Get Stuff Done

Nine rules that you’ll be free to break once you figure out how to email correctly, allowing you to worry less and produce more

Not my boss. The events of this article happened about 25 years ago, at the dawn of email usage. (Photo via Stencil.)

I used to have a boss who didn’t understand email. The root problem was that he neither understood correspondence, nor the art of conversation. How he got to be my boss remains a mystery (but I have a few theories). So…

What didn’t he understand about email, you ask?

My boss thought that email worked fine if you typed all your thoughts into a single paragraph, using only an occasional period for punctuation. Furthermore, he wrote the entire email in ALL CAPS, which is off-putting at best.

My boss was a screwball. Get it? (Photo via Stencil.)

I frequently rewrote his email for him. It never occurred to him that he should learn to correspond in any other fashion. He hardly believed me when I told him the email needed to be rewritten. (Of course, he did believe me because he returned for help, and sent my version as his own. He just never admitted he was wrong or thanked me for helping.)